Pages

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Control and Surprise

I've been doing a lot of reading lately and watching a lot of new tv shows and of note, a lot of stories in which classic tales are turned in some way to make them fit the modern era and surprise us while still using characters that we know and love.

Cameron Jace, I feel, is one of the best at this. Classic fairy tales are cleared from the dust, brought back to their original liveliness, and moved into a story that surprises, delights, frustrates, and confounds. Sleepy Hollow, on Fox, was another great example, in which the classic events of British history are retold through the connection of the supernatural. My favorite tv show, Supernatural, even did a story where Dorothy Baum, grows up into a supernatural hunter and freedom fights for Oz. Dracula, the latest show that I've been watching, turns the staid story of Dracula and the Harkers into something new and magical (it helps to have Jonathan Rhys Meyers, of course).

What does this have to do with anything? So much in our lives tries to control, to stay the same, to preserve the same patterns that we live, over and over, to a point that even if we recognize them happening, we fall hopelessly into the same way of living and feel powerless to stop them from happening. Sometimes it feels like we grind the same stone, over and over, finding the same, painful ground, down condition.

I am grateful today that there are still delights in this world and surprises to be found. Even our classic stories have life left in them, to spawn new creativity and give us new tales of fun, mystery, love, and life. No matter what, life can still throw you something new that makes your world shiny, new, and exciting, even in the most mundane situation.